Inktend / Ink library / Earth Contact - Sphalerite
Earth Contact - Sphalerite
Small-batch Japanese-Korean collaborative inks released in playful, story-driven limited series.
Paper & pairing
Warm tones (oranges, yellows, ambers) show strong contrast between light and dark areas of each stroke, which is part of why they're popular with broader nibs. This ink will behave predictably on most fountain-pen-friendly paper. Cheap, highly absorbent paper (standard copier paper) will dull any ink's saturation and can cause feathering or bleed-through with wetter nibs.
About Tono & Lims
Tono & Lims is a Japanese ink brand founded by fountain pen enthusiast Takashi Ono in partnership with Lim's Lab, an ink producer based in South Korea. It is known for a huge, fast-moving catalog of small-batch inks organized into story-driven series such as Friendship, Legend, Baby Color, Earth Contact and Shaved Ice, plus countless retailer and pen-show collaborations. The playful naming and constant limited releases have made it a cult favorite in the fountain pen community.
Storing and using the bottle
Bottled fountain pen ink has an effectively long shelf life when kept capped and out of direct sunlight: most inks remain usable for years. The main risk isn't the ink spoiling, it's a pen sitting inked and unused for weeks: that's what causes clogs, not the ink's age.
Frequently asked questions
Similar shades By colour distance
Color shown is a close digital approximation of a typical swatch, not a calibrated color match.